'Blog' for the Year 2018

The year 2018 also marked 'half-time' of my engagement here in Saudi Arabia and my ambition was to spend some more time in the region and get to get back to a more 'normal' life in terms of workload and in particular also to spend my vacation days in the different GCC countries ... well, the situation has improved somewhat with some good activities in Saudi as well as in Bahrain, as well as one trip to Dubai and one to Oman. But only managed to use half of my vacation days this year ( due to the demands from the work ), but at least it is a good improvement compared to 2017.

In the year 2018, the term Change has become an additional meaning for me. As part of my professional life (and consequently to some extend also in my private life), driving change is something very basic for me and a daily part of my life, and consequently, I'm also very much used to change. Nevertheless, I'm deeply impressed about the changes, we were able to experience and observe during the last two years here in Saudi Arabia. A lot of things, which were considered to be impossible at the time we arrived here in Saudi have suddenly become reality.

Mid December - Visiting At Tarif

We extended our visit in Riyadh one more day, such that we could visit the newly open At Tarif site.

... will follow ...

Mid December - Formula-E Race & Event in Riyadh

Riyadh hosted this December the Formula-E race

... will follow ...

Late November - Visit of ABB Group CEO in Dammam

My vacation came to an abrupt end, as we learnt - on a very short notice - that Ulrich Spiesshofer, the ABB Group CEO would come to Dammam for a meeting with the CEO of ARAMCO, and in this context also wanted to visit 'my' factory in Dammam.

That was a somewhat 'special' event for him as well, because he had personally inaugurated the factory 3.5 years ago in a very big event, but then things did not went well for the following years, such that everyone became nervous, and this was finally also the reason, why I was asked to go to Saudi. But we just managed to achieve a few milestones in the past weeks, such that we could show at least a [humble] 'success story' ...

... and finally, our CEO was happy after the visit !

Late November - Strolling at the Corniche of Al Khobar

Being directly at the sea, Al Khobar actually has a pretty nice corniche, as one of the very few places people can go in their spare time. I took a couple of days of in late November and Susanne came to Saudi, such that had a few relaxing days here - finally also using the pretty nice swmming pool we have at the 'Dhahran Tower', going out for dinner or spending some time at the corniche ...

Corniche Al Khobar - the Sea

Corniche Al Khobar - Walkway

Corniche Al Khobar - View on Sea

Corniche Al Khobar - People

Corniche Al Khobar - Cats

Corniche Al Khobar - Toy Train

Corniche Al Khobar - Palm Trees

Corniche Al Khobar - Sculpture

Corniche Al Khobar - Indian Restaurant

Mid November - Visisting the Bahrain Air Show

Every two years, there is an International Air Show in Bahrain, where civilian as well as military aircrafts are shown. So we also used this opportunity (but only the flight show was accessible to the general public).

Entrance

UAE F-16

Bahrain Defence Force Parachutes

DHL B767 & Global Stars

Gulf Air A320

Mirage & Paper Plane from a Visitor

Russian Knights I

Russian Knights II

USAF F-35

Early November - Storm across Bahrain

The last two days, we had some quite heavy thunderstorms in Saudi as well as in particular in Bahrain, where the locals say that this has been one of the heaviest storm experienced in Bahrain since many years.

During Jennifer's stay in Bahrain, we also visited again the Ithra, because I wanted to show the Ithra to Jennifer in general, and that way we also spent an evening in Saudi, for visiting 'Slava's Snow Show', a comedian show from Russia, which was performed at the Ithra. Normally people are doing it the other way around, i.e. people staying in Saudi go to Bahrain for some evening entertainment ... but, these days a lot of things are changing in Saudi Arabia. A lot of different forms of cultural events, which were not possible due to religious considerations, were now introduced during less than two years.

Even more important was that during that week, there were a serious of other events at the Ithra, and one of them was called 'Enlightenment', which is very surprising, because the missing enlightenment is one of the most crucial aspect in the Muslim world holding the society back in its development, because there are a number of truths defined in the Koran, which cannot be challenged so far, exactly the same way it was not allowed to challenge the truths declared by the Christian church during medieval times, and only the enlightenment enabled the subsequent scientific and cultural development at that time.

It was a big event for Saudi Arabia, kind of first time that such a cultural performance is allowed in public and therefore it was also a 'big event' in the local news.

Early October - Delphine Watching in Bahrain

On a weekend when Jennifer was again in Bahrain, we used the opportunity for a boat tour a few miles towards the north of Reef Island, as this is an area where dolphins can be seen.

It was not so difficult to see the dolphins, but to get them on a picture was the much tougher task ...

End of September - Providing First Aid in a traffic accident

Just to be clear right from the start - this was one of my most unpleasant experiences here in Saudi so far ...

On an evening, on my way back from work, I passed by a traffic accident, and I saw a cyclist laying - literally - in his blood on the street. Police was present, but it looked as if no one would really care. Thus, I stopped, took my First Aid set with me, check with the police on the situation and regarding the obviously unconcious and still bleeding cyclist - he just shrugged his shoulders ...

The cyclist was obviously placed the right way for an unconscious patient, but otherwise no further care was applied, except that the police had called the ambulance. When checking the cyclist, I noticed two still somewhat bleeding skin wounds on the scull, and he was also bleeding from his mouth, and most critical he had difficulties to breath, because he had accumulated blood and mucus in his mouth and was laying unfavorably on the collar of his jacket. Thus, cleaned his mouth such that he could properly breath again, and carefully placed his head on my First Aid set, such that his neck would be less twisted. Otherwise, I would not dare to do more, because he was hit by a car with high speed (looking at the damage at the car), and any unnecessary movement could cause further damage.

That way, I waited - together with the police - for another half an hour until the ambulance came. When I left the police very much expressed their appreciation for my help and were even more surprised when they noticed that I would not even know the cyclist.

Note 1 : back in the office the next day, I checked with my Saudi colleagues, and they confirmed that the Police is not sufficiently trained to do First Aid in such a situation and correspondingly also do not have any First Aid material in their cars. It is a known problem, but so far it has not been addressed, neither by the government nor the general public.

Note 2 : the First Aid set I have in my car, I brought with me from Switzerland, because after I got my own car here in Saudi in early 2017, I went to a pharmacy to buy a First Aid kit for my car, but learnt that this does not really exist in the local market.

Note 3 : cyclists are a big risk here in Saudi, very often they ride their bicycles also at night, but without light and quite frequently on the 'wrong' side of the street (potentially because it is often difficult to pass from one side of the street to the other side).

In 2016, there were some Saudi flags everywhere, but in Dammam there were no festive activities, neither from the offical side nor otherwise. In the evening, there were some young guys driving around and pushing the horn, but it was even restricted by the police. In Riyadh, there were some official events, but probably not even open to the public.

In 2017, there were already some fireworks in the main cities and some official events to celebrate the 'birthday' of Saudi Arabia.

This year, there was a wide array of events and fireworks in every place to make really 'something' out of it. It was still limited to the official activities, but also aiming the people to participate and to join these events. This year, the National Holiday was on Sunday, which is the first day of the work-week here in Saudi, and that day was off. In the morning King Salman then declared that Monday would be a day off for everyone as well ... that way, we all had an even more extended weekend.

Early September - Increasing Social Flexibility ...

On the weekend Susanne and myself wanted to go out for dinner, and that means, you always have to plan to order dinner and to settle the bill in terms of time such that it does not conflicts with the two prayers in the evening. But we noticed that this restaurant did not close during prayer, but simply operated without considering prayer time - something, which in theory would not be allowed ( but most people would like, because the idea of closing of shops and restaurants during paryer time is only supported by a minority of the people these days ).

When I then asked - in a very nice way - the Head of Service, why they would not close the restaurant during prayer time, he became pretty nervous and explained that people here in Dammam would be more open, that he would do that already since a long time (even as the restaurant was opened recently), ..., etc. I tried to make clear that he does not need to worry because of me, but it became very obvious that my question had hit a 'critical point' ... Nevertheless, I would wish that more shops and restaurants would choose such a 'pragmatic' approach, and even Saudi nationals expect that this law would soon be abolished.

The second Eid Al Adha weekend I spent again in Bahrain (after having worked most of the time during the Eid Al Adha holidays), and it became a really good weekend :

... on Friday, we visited a Lego Exhibtion at the local Exhition Center, which was great fun, and I was even able to contgribute a little bit to the exhibition myself ...

... on Saturday, we first had breakfast at 'Pauls' in Seef Mall, and when strolling

through that part of Seef Mall, we discovered a pretty decent Book Store (not as good as Jarir in Dammam or Riyadh, but at least better than the two 'Pseudo Book Stores' in the City Center). And afterwards we went to Budaiya were we 'raided' two small, but pretty good bookstores - making both, the owners of the bookstores happy as well as ourselves.

August - Visiting the 'King Abdulaziz Center of World Culture'

The 'King Abdulaziz Center of World Culture' or Ithra as it is called in Arabic, was build by ARAMCO and was officially opened in late 2016. It was not finished at that time, and for the first 18 months, it was not yet open to the public and there were only some selected events.

In late spring the center was open to the public on a few weekends, but we did not manage to get any of the few tickets. Now, for the summer vacation they opened it to the general public and started to have different events (museum, workshops, cinema, performing arts, etc.) with a special attention to children.

It is still not yet fully completed, i.e. some construction work was going on, and e.g. of the library, only one of the four floors where already open. Nevertheless, it is a very interesting site, the guides of the center were exceptionally helpful and I'll go for sure again to see some of the educational films they show, or in case of any other events that catches my eye.

Already two weeks later, I visited the Ithra again for a movie about Bilal. It was an animated movie, explaining at the life of Bilal ibn Rabah - who became the first muezzin - the early history of Islam, and how it was established in Mecca and Medina.

It looks like to be a film more for children, but it was an easy way to learn a lot about the connections between different aspects in this context and some interesting facts - e.g. that the Kaaba has already worshiped a long time before Islam as a sacred 'pagan' site.

July - An Important Milestone at Work

So far, the focus of this blog was on our private life here in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as well as the local environment, how we have experienced it.

When it comes to the changes in the economic and social environment, they are probably best described by the term of a 'revolution'. These days, Saudi Arabia as a country is going through a profound transformation economically - 'Vision 2030' - due to the drop in the oil price and the corresponding recession and the subsequent re-focusing effort of the economy towards the private / industrial sector (next to the introduction of a VAT, raising certain levies and elimination of various subsidies). In this context the labor market shall also be opened for women (sic!). When I proposed in early 2017 to hire women for my local business unit, I did not get the necessary support within ABB Saudi Arabia, even as it was legally possible already at that time. But now, with the official change of policy at the country level, it was even very much appreciated that I would be willing to hire women. And finally, I managed to hire the first woman at management level in ABB Saudi Arabia - she will be my SCM Manager, starting in mid October.

Late June - Eid al Fitr & Visiting the Al Jabal Al Akhdar in Oman

Mid-June the Eid Al Fitr Holidays started, which last for one week in Saudi. The first few days I was still in Dammam, cleaning-up some stuff from work as well as to get more into a 'holiday mood'. The good thing with Eid Al Fitr is that it is an important public holiday and consequently all offices are closed in Saudi and the Middle East, and correspondingly there is not much going on work-wise anymore. So I moved to Bahrain for kind of a semi-holiday, because in Europe, there was obviously no holiday and the level of understanding that the Saudi Organization is now closed for a week in in Europe still quite weak. In Europe we have learnt over the last 20 years about e.g. Chinese New Year and some other holidays in different countries, but Eid al Adha and Eid Al Fitr have not yet 'arrived' in Europe.

For the last week of June we took some days off at the Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort in Oman, which is a very nice (!) place to take some vacation. In fact that was the first time in the last two years, where I managed to get 5 days of 'real' vacations. Last year simply did not work out because of the situation at work, and the first attempt this February ended-up with some food poisoning.

Al Jabal Al Akhdar ( الجبل الأخضر ) stands for 'Green Mountain' due to the shrubs and trees, which grown in this area as well as the extensive irrigation system used of bring water to the terraces, which allowed until recently a wide range of agriculture.

In this context we also visited Nizwa and some of the surrounding villages ( most of them have been more or less abandoned in recent years ). Nizwa was the former capital of Oman until the late 1950ies, when the capital moved to Muscat.

Oman is overall a very nice place from a touristic perspective, and it also has a well develop touristic industry. Therefore, tourism is - next to the oil and gas industry - an important element of the local economy. In order to increase the number of local people in the workforce ( currently more than 60% are coming from abroad - mainly from Asia ), there is also an Omanization Program, similar to the Saudization in Saudi Arabia, which is also 'not that much appreciated' from the business.

Mid-May to Mid-June - Ramadan

The month of Ramadan is always a special time. In particular for Muslims, as they are fasting from sunrise to sunset - i.e. no food, no drinking, but also no smoking, which is often the toughest part for the local people, who are frequently quite heavy smokers.

At the same time it is also a special time for Non-Muslims, because for one month, the entire local life follows a different rhythm. By law, people who are fasting only have to work for 6 hrs, and usual working hours are either from 09:00 - 15:00 or from 10:00 - 16:00. But because the night becomes the time of major activities, some of the people have a tough time to come to the office by 10:00 and the performance level may deteriorate quite fast during the day ...

For me it was a 'good time', because I was still working 10 - 12 hrs per day, and that gave me some additional time, I was able to work in a focused manner (with no disturbance) on subjects, I did not had the time before.

March - Experience with Medical Infrastructure in Saudi Arabia

When I started here in Dammam in late 2016, I superficially checked on the medical infrastructure available, in order to know where to get medical help in case of need. I learnt that in case of any medical treatment required, one would need to go to the hospital, because medical practices as they would be the first contact is Switzerland does not exist here in Saudi. There was also one hospital I was advised that this would be the best one, and in case I would need medical help, I should go there. A few months later I learned in the News that this hospital has gone bankrupt and all staff has been laid off ...

... great ! And in the meantime, I've learnt that actually the best hospitals in Saudi Arabia would be in Jeddah ?! which would obviously not be an option. Thus, I had to check on the options given in Dammam. In the meantime, kind of a medical practice with several doctors had opened not far away from where I life, and consequently I went to them as an initial step. Based on an earlier problem I had with my stomach, I know what to look for [ as well ], and explained that to the respective doctor - not very successful, and he was also not able to correctly read the related analysis report from the blood analysis. But to be fair he was also very helpful and tried to support me as much as possible.

Obviously, that was not a solution and I checked with my local team to which hospital I should go. There was a consistent feedback and also the right doctor was easily identified - it would also have been possible to schedule an appointment via the internet, but he was fully booked for more than one week ... Therefore, I had to go personally to the hospital and had to make clear at the reception that I would need to get an appointment TODAY, which was also possible - I simply had to come in the afternoon and "... the doctor will take you in, whenever he sees an opportunity ...". Thus, I had to wait for a bit more than one hour, but this doctor was really good. He immediately understood my medical history, what can be taken out of the blood analysis ... and we also understood each other very well on a personal level.

Overall, the administrative procedures related to the medical insurance are a bit cumbersome, and part of the treatment has to be paid on the spot. It takes definitely more time than in Switzerland, but the medical treatment in terms of quality was good - if you find the right doctor, it is as good as in Switzerland. Honestly speaking, in case of a serious illness or surgery, I would still go back to Switzerland - just to be 'on the safe side'. Also when listening to my team - in case they need to seek medical help, it is often described as a rather neagtive experience from their own perspective.

In summary, the food poisoning ended up with two weeks of sick leave / 'home office'.

Update of December - again emergency visit to a Hospital

In mid December ( shortly after coming back from Riyadh ), I got again some problems with my stomach, where I orginally thought that it would go away on it's own and no need to do anything ...

... well, it turned out to become literally a sleepless night due to the heavy pain, and correspondingly I had to see a doctor the following morning. A few months ago a new hospital was opened just a few minutes away from where I live in Al Khobar, such that a colleague brought me there.

And overall, I would describe this as a positive expereince, nice and well equipped hospital, saw a doctor within a few minutes ( I also looked awful - says my colleague ), it was also a good and open dialogue with him. The only problem was that it took about two hours until we got the approval from the insurance to do an additional ultrasonic examination.

Late February - Wedding in the Desert & Visiting Dubai

In late February Susanne and I took a couple of days off to join the Wedding of a colleague, who had arranged his wedding ceremony in the desert of Dubai as well as to visit Dubai again.

... more to come ...

On one of the first few days, I must have eaten something spoiled, which ended-up in some pretty bad food poisoning. I tried to manage the next three days with some basic medication, but the situation got too bad, such that I asked a doctor to see me in the hotel. He suggested to transfer me right to the hospital - something I was not that fond off, and consequently he arranged the required medical treatment at the hotel - he administered some intravenous infusion and medication and the next day I was able to travel back to Saudi, where I was seeking medical help.

In mid-February we also visited the Janadriyah Festival, which is kind of a 'Saudi Expo', where all the main regions and cities are represented. The festival is sponsored by the 'Saudi National Guard'. The access is quite a bit painstaking, because access roads are always fully jammed on these days, and one has to park quite far away. Taking into account my difficulties with walking (due to the impairments from my motorcycle accident) that did not sound like a good approach. Knowing that in Arab cultures a lot can be arranged via relationships, I asked one of my local colleagues for some help - and he then arranged that we were able to drive directly into the site of Janadriyah Festival and he also organized a guide from the National Guard, who would be guiding us throughout the whole day. In that context, he did a bit of an 'overselling', such that we - or to be more precise - I was treated like a VIP.

At each site, we got a personal guide, who would explain the exhibitions of this pavilion, its culture, etc. we were always offered some coffee and at least some dates, or also cookies or some other food. At one place I wanted to buy a book, which I obviously got as a gift, and when I 'complained' to one of the representatives of the city of Medina, that it would not be possible for me to visit Medina ( which is like Mecca closed for non-Muslims ), he briefly disappeared and then came back with the press officer of the city of Medina, who invited me to visit the city. We were a party of six, my Saudi Colleague, an Egyptian friend, who were both working with me at ABB and our wives. When we visited these pavilions the respective guides were only talking with me, and my two colleagues did not had a chance to be integrated into these dialogues and in some cases the wives were more like tolerated and truly welcomed. Or as we say in German - "Different Countries - Different Customs". But that even had some advantages for my colleagues - they had the freedom to roam around on their own, or take break, where I had to pay full attention and show genuine interest to these elaborations for the whole day …

Overall, it was an interesting day for all of us, which gave a broad range of additional insights into Saudi Arabia, its cultural heritage and economy.

Early January - a good start into the new year ...

As of the beginning of this year, I was able to reduce my engagement somewhat, because I was able to split my earlier dual-role at work and delegate 'half' of the work to a young Saudi manager. The plan is to let him grow into his new role during 2018, such that by the end of the year, he would fully take over that part of my earlier responsibility. The actual reduction is not that much to start with, but at least as important is the psychological effect, because some subjects I can delegate to someone else and only get involved, if it gets more difficult / tricky.

Consequently, I was able to spend my first fully relaxed and nice weekend in Bahrain.